Multi Degree of Freedom system

Agenda:

 What is a Multiple Degree of Freedom System?

 Why Study MDOF Systems?

 Equations of Motion for MDOF Systems

| FINAL YEAR PROJECT-VNIT(2023-24) | ANUPAM SONAR | ASHUTOSH RABARY |

What is a Multiple Degree of Freedom
System?
• Definition: "A system in which a structure can move in multiple
independent directions (degrees of freedom) simultaneously."

An example of a MDOF system

| FINAL YEAR PROJECT-VNIT(2023-24) | ANUPAM SONAR | ASHUTOSH RABARY |

Why Study MDOF Systems?

Importance: Understanding MDOF systems is crucial for analyzing and
designing complex structures.

Real-world structures rarely have a single degree of freedom.

Allows for accurate modeling of dynamic behavior.

Essential for earthquake engineering, aerospace, and more.
Equations of Motion for MDOF Systems
Free body diagram of a 3 mass spring system with three Degrees of Freedom, u1 , u2 and u3
 Equations of motion:

This system of equations constitutes the stiffness formulation of the equations of motion for a three-
story shear building. It may conveniently be written in matrix notation as:

where [M] and [K] are the mass and stiffness matrices,
The elements of the stiffness matrix are designated stiffness coefficients. In general, the stiffness
coefficient, kij is is defined as the force at coordinate i when a unit displacement is given at j, all other
coordinates being fixed For example, the coefficient in the second row and second column, k 22 = k2 + k3, is
the force required at the second floor when a unit displacement is given to this floor.

The problem of free vibration requires that the force vector {F} be equal to zero
For free vibrations of the undamped structure, we seek solutions of the form:

where ai is the amplitude of motion of the ith coordinate and n is the number of degrees of freedom.
The equation in vector form is:

The substitution of this vector equation into our matrix equation gives us :

Simplifying it we get:
 The solution of this equation is of two types trivial and non trivial , the
trivial solution being ai = 0 with all displacements being individually 0.
However we need the non trivial solution

In general, the expansion of the determinant results in a polynomial equation of degree n in

which should be satisfied for n values of .This polynomial is known as the characteristic
equation of the system. For each of these values of satisfying the characteristic equation we can
solve for a1, a2, . . ., an in terms of an arbitrary constant